Perspiration drips off Jordan Sheldon's clean-shaven face as he pries open the doors of an empty steel shipping container on the gravel backlands of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal on a scorching summer afternoon.

Although he's a petty officer first class in the U.S. Coast Guard's Hampton Roads sector, Sheldon spends little time on the water. His job is far from glamorous portrayals of Coasties sometimes shown in the media, speeding after ocean-going drug traffickers and rescuing stranded boaters.

As part of the little-known but integral Coast Guard inspection team, Sheldon is among the first lines of defense that ensure the nation's ports are safe. His team works to prevent terrorists from sneaking into the country; ensure hazardous cargo is stored safely; and identify weapons such as dirty bombs early and keep them out of the ports.

"When most people think of the Coast Guard, they think of search-and-rescue missions and the drug trade — the sexy stuff." Sheldon said.

"Not many people know what our team does."

Ninety-six hours before a large vessel enters U.S. federal waters, the ship must send to the Coast Guard a detailed list of what the ship is carrying, who owns it, the last ports it visited and biographical information on the crew.

Special investigators assess the risk and determine whether a more thorough investigation is required. For example, if the ship was recently in Iran, the Cook Islands or certain terminals in Indonesia, it's automatically marked for inspection. The same goes for a ship with a history of deserters or improperly stowed cargo.

Investigators also inspect Hampton Roads' dozens of waterfront facilities, making sure piers are safe, port terminals are properly secured and lighted, and pollution is kept out of the water.

Three days a week, Sheldon, 27, cruises around in the Coast Guard's Chevrolet Suburban, checking cargo containers for damage or problems that could turn into safety or security risks.

The Wyoming native and his team target shipping containers that carry hazardous substances such as nuclear material, explosives and toxic chemicals. They run each container through an extensive checklist to make sure the cargo is properly packed, labeled and secured, and that the container it is shipped inside is structurally sound and sealed.

On this day, he and Lt. Vignette A. Kaltsas were inspecting empty steel boxes in Portsmouth. They studied the exterior of a rusting, banged-up 16-year-old container, looking for structural deficiencies. Then, Sheldon tied straps on the doors of the box to ensure any items packed inside didn't spill out, and he pried it open.

This box was empty, and when the doors propped open, out seeped the strong odor of tobacco, the item likely last carried in the box.

If Sheldon and Kaltsas found the container to be unfit, the Coast Guard would quarantine the box and not allow it to be moved from the property until it was repaired.

"Everybody is being watched," says Capt. Patrick B. Trapp, Hampton Roads sector commander. "Anything that comes into the port, there's no question that we have information on it."

U.S. Coast Guard in Hampton Roads  The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the Department of Homeland Security dedicated to protecting the safety and security of America. Missions include: Search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, vessel inspection, port safety and security, waterways management, pollution prevention and aids to navigation. Hampton Roads is home to the largest Coast Guard presence in the United States. The local sector covers all of Virginia and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It is home port to a fleet of 87-foot patrol boats, 270-foot medium endurance cutters and an assortment of other, smaller boats. The Coast Guard also protects "high-value Navy assets" in the harbor, including those being built at the Northrop Grumman shipyard in Newport News and those home ported at Naval Station Norfolk. The service boards about 10 percent of all vessels that enter the harbor.

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Tag along with Jordan Sheldon in our photo gallery as he works to secure operations at our region's ports.

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